Cardbird Door, from Cardbird Series (Gemini 261)

Since Robert Rauschenberg's Combines, made in the late 1950s, he has investigated the detritus of society as a window and/or mirror for contemporary culture. During the 1960s, his work expanded to include images from mass-media as part of this strategy. By the early 1970s though, he had returned to making projects with found materials. Some art historians have suggested this to have a correlation with his relocation from New York City to Captiva Island, Florida. Since he did not have the same visual stimulation provided by the city in the form of images, he turned again to materials. The Cardbird Series was the product of this shift. To create the project, Rauschenberg worked with Gemini G.E.L. Together, they produced a deceptive work: the object appears to be quite simply constructed of cardboard. In actuality, the work required a sophisticated process, since he used offset lithography, screenprinting, and collage. Like many of Rauschenberg's series, there is often one work considered the masterpiece of the set, and in this case, it is the the Cardbird Door.